A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Timilehin Leukaemia Foundation (TLF), on Sunday called on all stakeholders to intensify efforts through medical and pharmaceutical research to ensure finding a cure to the various forms of cancer globally.
The founder of TLF, Janet Oyedele, in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said that the recent increase in mortality of cancer-related diseases was a cause for concern.
NAN reports that the World Health Organisation (WHO) had on Feb. 3 announced 10million deaths in cancer-related diseases in 2020, describing the disease as one of the leading causes of death worldwide, accounting for nearly one in six deaths globally.
Oyedele, however, said that the number of cancer infections and deaths could have been reduced if there had been intensified research that could come up with its treatment and full recovery of cancer patients.
She added that palliative treatment for the disease had not achieved much.
“The battle against cancer in the world is nothing to write home about because, since all these years of its discovery, there is yet a permanent cure for its various types.”
“What we have on ground for most types of cancer diseases are palliative treatments which are just as good as the patient buying time before he or she eventually gives up the ghost, people are still dying of cancer every day.”
“Maybe in other climes, the mortality rate may not be as high as what we have in Nigeria; still, we have a long way to go in finding a cure to this leading cause of death globally.”
“What we have in Nigeria at present is nothing to write home about, especially,the treatment of Leukaemia among those suffering from it.”
“We are losing our children day in day out, while the older patients are not left out of the high mortality rate,” she said.
Oyedele argued that if the world had intensified efforts in finding a cure or a vaccine to cancer the way the COVID-19 pandemic was attended to, things would have been better for cancer patients.
“We all know what happened during the COVID-19 pandemic when all efforts were deployed in finding either a cure or vaccines for the viral infection. If the same energy or half of it had been expended into finding a cure for cancer, things would have been better. Cancer also needs same attention and energy as was given to the cure of COVID-19, especially Leukaemia.”
According to her, We cannot fold our arms to watch people going through the harrowing experience before they eventually die.
“While we major on the discovery and care for cancer patients in the urban areas and cities, there are many others in the rural areas that are yet to be detected and probably won’t have access to medical facilities. With this, we have a long way to go.”
“Some of the leukemia patients in the rural areas will just be experiencing high temperature and shortness of blood for few years which is one of the symptoms of Leukaemia. Then, they give up because there is no testing equipment to discover what is wrong with them,” she said.
Oyedele added that Leukaemia patients had a low probability of survival due to unfavorable access to blood, adding that blood donors were on the decrease.
She declared that the fifth anniversary of TLF would strive to create more awareness on leukemia as a terminal disease.
“There is an urgent need to address our depleted blood banks all over the country and not in Lagos alone. There are several patients in need of blood, but leukemia patients require more blood.”
“We need more advocacies to champion more awareness on the need for our people to make more efforts by donating blood to those that are in need of it. Blood donation saves lives.”
She said that the foundation would during Valentine’s day seek voluntary blood donations from the public to ameliorate the sufferings of patients.
“This exercise is free and we appeal to the members of the public to come in and donate blood to save the lives of Leukaemia patients,” she said.
Oyedele also said that TLF would mark its fifth anniversary in collaboration with the National Union of Textile, Garment, Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), through a programme on Monday, Feb. 14 in Lagos.
She said the theme of the programme would be; “Genetic Disorder of the Blood: Helping Sufferers and Carriers Live a Meaningful Life.”